Regulators Criticize Chrysler for Delay in Repairing Recalled Jeeps

Federal auto regulators, criticized recently for not acting aggressively enough on safety issues, turned some of their fire on Chrysler on Wednesday, saying in a harshly worded letter that the automaker was taking too long to repair 1.6 million recalled Jeep sport utility vehicles.

The repairs were mandated last June after Chrysler and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reached a compromise that ended a tense standoff. Trailer hitches would be installed to reduce the risk of fires in rear-impact crashes.

The deal was quickly criticized by consumer advocates, who said that the hitches had not traditionally been seen as safety devices. But regulators defended the compromise, and on Wednesday released results of tests, which were conducted after the deal was reached, showing that the hitches appeared to work in low- to medium-speed crashes. The agency did not perform testing at speeds higher than 43 miles an hour.

At Chrysler’s current rate of repairs, regulators wrote, it would take 4.7 years to fix all of the recalled Grand Cherokees and two years to fix the Liberty models. Such delays “will inure to Chrysler’s benefit at the expense of vehicle owner safety,” the agency said. It also criticized Chrysler for taking five months to find a company to supply the hitches.

“For many owners, a recall remedy deferred by parts availability becomes a defect remedy denied,” the agency wrote. It gave Chrysler until July 16 to provide information on how it planned to improve its performance.

Chrysler responded in a statement that such a recall “demands complex engineering” and that suppliers for the hitches had to be found.

Those Jeeps have gas tanks behind the rear axle, an unusual location that makes them more vulnerable to damage and leaking in rear-impact crashes.

Consumer advocates including the Center for Auto Safety, whose initial complaint spurred the agency’s investigation, said a better solution would be to install metal skid plates that would cover the gas tank. When the vehicles were new, the automaker offered skid plates as an option on those vehicles to protect the gas tank during off-road driving.

The safety agency has said it was aware of 51 deaths in rear-impact crashes that resulted in fires. The recall covers the 1993-98 Grand Cherokee and 2002-7 Jeep Liberty models.

The agency is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over how it failed to act for a decade on reports of sudden stalling in millions of Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other small cars that General Motors began recalling in February.

On Wednesday, Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, sent a letter to the agency requesting information about how the agency evaluated certain reports submitted by automakers.

Automakers are required to file quarterly reports accounting for defects that could be tied to an injury or death. This system, called Early Warning Reporting, is supposed to help regulators spot potential defect trends.

But an analysis by the Center for Auto Safety on behalf of the senators revealed that “significant deviations” existed between companies’ information.

Ferrari, for example, has never filed a report. And Chrysler’s rate of reporting plummeted after it emerged from bankruptcy — going from an average of one death or injury report for every 4,200 vehicles sold between 2004-8, to only one for every 8,300 vehicles since then.

Ferrari did not return a telephone call seeking comment. A spokesman for Chrysler said that the company’s “processes have not changed” and that it was “in full compliance with applicable law on this question.”

Giselle Barry, a spokeswoman for Mr. Markey, said the Senate aimed to examine the agency’s entire approach to regulating the industry. On April 2, David Friedman, acting administrator of the agency, testified before a Senate subcommittee along with General Motors’ chief executive, Mary T. Barra.

The panel is scheduled to hold another hearing on July 17, though it has not named a witness list.

Separately on Wednesday, lawyers for G.M. returned to bankruptcy court in New York as Judge Robert E. Gerber tried to map out a procedural plan for deciding a critical question: Should the nearly 90 lawsuits filed by G.M. customers over the lost value of their Cobalts, Ions and other recalled cars be allowed to go forward?

G.M. has petitioned Judge Gerber, who presided over the company’s 2009 bankruptcy restructuring, to effectively dismiss the lawsuits by upholding a provision in the bankruptcy agreement that absolves the company of liabilities stemming from accidents before July 10, 2009. Lawyers for plaintiffs in the myriad suits have countered, in part, that G.M. committed fraud during the bankruptcy proceedings by not divulging a problem that could result in extensive liabilities for the company.

The judge urged the two sides to come to basic agreements on facts so the arguments could move forward on matters of law and to avoid dragging out the process with extensive discovery.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B3 of the New York edition with the headline: Regulators Criticize Chrysler for Delay in Repairing Recalled Jeeps. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe